Tin-plate branning and cleaning machine



"Mag/ 29, 1923.

1,4566% N. DURBIN TIN PLATE BRANNING AND CLEANING MACHINE Filed Oct. 18 1919 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIET 1 67 77 66 A 75 27 e 3! l2 l5 s Q O a d n n n O Q 0 76 Q o 4 I9 5, 4' u 52 0 INVENTOR,

May 29, 1923. I 1,456,629

w. N. DURBIN TIN PLATE BRANNING AND CLEANING MACHINE Filed Oct. 18 1919 3 sheets -sheet 2 Tia. 2

INVEN TOR. Wu 04/4 f 00,9801.

A TTORNEYS,

May 29, 11923.

W. N. DURBIN TIN PLATE BRANNING AND CLEANING MACH INE Filed Oct. 1 8, 1919 3 Sheets- Sheet 3 INVEN TOR. M/lLLl/i/V Dues/h.

A TTORNEY-S.

Patented May 29, i923.

WILLIAM H. DURBIN, O33 ANDERSON, INDIANA.

TIN-PLATE BRANNENG AND CLEANING ltCEACHINE.

Application filed October 18, 1919.

T 0 all to ham it may concern Be it known that 1., WILLIAM H. DURBIN, a citizen of the United States. and a resident of Anderson, county of Madison, and State I of Indiana, have invented a certain new and useful Tin-Plate Branning and Gleaning Machine; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which like numerals refer to like parts.

The object of this invention is to improve the construction of machines for branning, cleaning and polishing tin plates .and effectually removing therefrom the oil, grease or other flux covering the surface of the freshly tinned plates.

Machines of this character have in the front end a set of rolls between which the tin plates pass in succession and a bran box and means for supplying to said rolls and plates bran or other cleaning material, and also a set of cleaning rolls in the rear portion of the machine which receive the tin plates from the branning rolls and are expected to clean the bran or cleaning material from the plates and discharge the tin plates at the end of the machine perfectly free from any of the greasy material or flux and the clean ing material. In these machines heretofore in use, the greasy bran or cleaning material from the branning rolls has been utilized by and carried on to the cleaning rolls in the cleaning end of the machine, with the result that it has been difficult to thoroughly clean the tin plate, for the material utilized by tl e cleaning rolls at the cleaning end of the machine has not been very clean itself. It has retained the grease and other dirt received from the branning end of the machine. cIn these machines one hopper has been located beneath both sets of rolls, the branning rolls and the cleaning rolls, and the bran has been discharged therein from the bran box about both classes of rolls and has been elevated and discharged again into the front end of the machine upon the branning rolls and repeatedly used. The result has been that the material soon became'iilthy and unsatisfactory and the machine had to be stopped and all the branning and cleaning material removed.

Because of the dilliculty of cleaning tin plates by said machines, some factories have taken the tin plates issuing from the machine Serial No. 331,637.

and carried them to another machine and re cleaned them. This process is laborious and expensive.

The present machine has for its object the more thorough cleaning of the tin plates, so as to render re-cleaning unnecessary, and also causing a considerable saving in the amount and cost of the bran or cleaning material employed.

The feature of the invention whereby the foregoing object has been accomplished consists in providing a separate supply of bran or cleaning material to the branning rolls and to the cleaning rolls, and to that end each set of rolls in the machine is provided with a hopper, an elevator and a distributor, and the greasy cleaning material in the bran box contained in the branning rolls is not passed or permitted to pass into the cleaning rolls or cleaning end of the ma chine, but the rolls in the cleaning end of the machine are supplied with an independent supply of clean bran or cleaning material so as to thoroughly clean the tin plates and render re-cleaning quite needless.

The foregoing feature of the invention enables each variety of cleaning material to be used for a longer period than the cleaning material as used in the machines heretofore in use. The greasy bran or cleaning material in the front end of the machine can be repeatedly used until it is in a much greasier and dirtier condition than has even been pos sible in the old machines, for this materialin the present machine is not passed to the cleaning rolls at the cleaning end of the machine. T'he condition of the bran used in the branning rolls is not very material, as to how greasy or dirty it may be, for it will still effectually rub loose and rub off the grease or flux on the tin plates.

By using relatively clean bran or material with the cleaning rolls at the cleaning end of the machine, which material has not been soiled in the branning end of the machine, not only are the tin plates more thoroughly cleaned, but this bran can be repeatedly used a very long time. It does not become greasy or dirty very fast. The result is not only improved cleaning of the tin plate, but a very material saving in the amount of cleaning material used and a considerably longer use of the cleaning material is rendered possible, and this result is obtained in a single machine driven from a single source of power,

. series through which the tin plates are continuously passed in succession, the cleaning rolls receiving the tin plates directly from the branning rolls. 7

The full nature of this. inventionwill be more fully understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims:

In the drawings Fig. 1 is an elevation of the side of the machine opposite the elevators. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of-the machine looking at the elevator side thereof. Fig. 8 is .a-cen-tral vertical section through Fig. l. 4,is a central vertical section oft-he .upper part of one of the elevatorsand the distributor associated therewith. Fig. 5

is a'zsection of parts of the driving shaft and wheels thereon.

There is shown in the drawings herein a tin plate cleaning machine having a main frame in which the rolls are mounted, consisting of side plates 10 with vertical openings 11 therein for bearing boxes 12 for, the rolls and cross partition plates 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18, as seen in Fig. This frame is box-like, .openlat the bottom andthe top however, and is carried and supported by a supporting frame having end legs 19 and 20, longitudinal side bars 21 and'22, straight cross bars 23 and inclined brace-bars 24.

Referring to Fig. 8, it is seen that at the feedingend of the machine there is a pair of feed rolls'25, one above the other at the entrance ofthe branning box-or end of the machine. This part of the machine lies between the partition plates 13 and 14 near the front end of the machine and the partition plates 15 and 16 near the middle of the machine. In this branning box there are four pairs of branning rolls 26. Following the branning box and. rolls there is a cleaning box located between the plates 15 and 16 near the middle of .themachi ne and the plates 17 and 18 near the end of the machine, and there/are seen four pairs of cleaning rolls 27. At the rear or discharge end of the machine .to the right hand of the plates 17 and 18, there is a pair of discharge feed rolls 28. These rolls are all arranged so that the bites thereof are in horizontal alignment for the feeding or passageof the tin plates between them through the machine.

' The manner of mountingthe rolls here shown 1s not new, the upper bearing box 12 sprocket chains, and. the trouble that has been experienced by the difficulty of accurately making and operating gear driven rolls in machines of the kind heretofore has been overcome and avoided. To that end each roll has a sprocket wheel 31 secured thereon for driving .the same, the sprocket wheel on the upper roll, however, being on the opposite side of the machine fromthe sprocket wheel on the lower roll and the sprocket wheels on the alternate upper rolls and on the alternate lower rolls are located on the same side of the machine. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 1, on the right hand side of the machine, the first sprocket wheel is on the lower roll of the first pair, thenext is on the upper roll of the secondpair, the'third is on the lower roll of the third pair, the fourth roll is onthe upper roll of the fourth pair, and this alternation is carried over .to the cleaning box, the fifth wheel being on the lower roll of the fifth pair. of rolls,-the sixth wheel on the upper roll of the sixth pair of rolls and so on to theend, while the reverse arrangement. is found on the left hand side of the machine, as shown in Fig. This makes two sets of roll driving sprocket wheels 31, the set on the right hand side all being driven by a single sprocket chain 35 and all of the sprocket wheels on the left hand side of the machine being driven by the sprocket chain 36. Each of these chains travels over the lower horizontal row of sprocket wheels and under the upper row of wheels. as shown. These two sprocket chains are driven at different rates of speed, and. therefore, the right and left hand sets of sprocket wheels are driven at different rates of speed with the result that the rolls of each The power for driving the machine is applied to the main driving pulley 40, shown in Fig. 1, mounted on the shaft 4l which extends transversely through the machine. On the left hand end of shaft 41, there is a sprocket wheel, 42 secured. which drives the sprocket chain 43 that runs to the lower rear feeding roll 28, and the lower rear feeding roll drives the sprocket chain on the other side of the inachinefor operating the fast driven rolls; On the latter side ofthe machine, see F1 1, thereis a sprocket wheel 44secured on the shaft 41 which drives the sprocket chain 45 that runs-to a much larger sprocket wheel 46 on'the last lower cleaning roll in the machine, and on the other end of said roll there is asprocket wheel 31 which drives the sprocket chain36 at a lower speed than the sprocket chain 35- The reason for the differential driving of the rolls of each pair is well known in the art.

The partition plates 13 to 18 may be formed substantially as shown, the upper plates 13, 15 or 17 is a plain vertical plate extending down to the middle of the machine with its lower end or lip turned rearward so as to lie slightly above a straight line through the bites of the pairs of rolls, and, therefore, just above the tin plates as they pass through the machine. The lower plates 14, 16 and 18 extend up almost to the upper plates referred to. The lower plates 16 and 18 have their upper lips turned rearward. On the upper partition plates 15 and 17 there are brushes 50 extending down into the path of the tin plates for sweeping off the bran therefrom as they pass out of the bran box and cleaning box respectively.

The bran or cleaning material as it is used in the branning box drops into the hopper 51 below the branning box or front half of the machine and that from the cleaning box drops into the hopper 52 below the cleaning box or rear half of the machine. Said boxes are trough shaped transversely, and in the contracted lower portion of each hopper there is a screw conveyor 53 or 54? respectively with the stub shaft thereof mounted in suitable bearings'56, as shown in Fig. 3.

The screw operates in a screw housing 57 at the left hand side of the machine, as shown in Fig. 2 and discharges into the elevator casing 58 in which an endless bucket elevator 59 is mounted on theshafts 60 and 61. This elevator carries up the bran or cleaning material which screw 53 has taken out of the hopper end of the branning box and elevates it and discharges it into the screw casing 62, which has in it a distributing screw 64 extending across the machine from the first two pairs of rolls in the bran box. By this means the bran or cleaning material. is fed or distributed to the branning rolls and'upon the tin plates as they enter the machine. The distributing screw 64 is driven by a sprocket chain 66 which leads from the sprocket wheel 166 on the first lower branning roll to a sprocket wheel 67 on the distributing screw, as seen in Fig. 1.

The conveyor screw 54 in the rear hopper under the cleaning rolls or rear half of the machine is mounted in a housing 68, as seen in Fig. 2. and discharges the bran from said last mentioned hopper into a chamber in the conveyor housing 69 at the left hand side of the machine behind the elevator 58. In this housing 60 thereis an endless bucket conveyor like the bucket elevator 59, which at its lower end is mounted on the shaft 70 and its upper end on the shaft 71. It discharges into the distributing housing 72, and is con veyed transversely of the machine and is distributed by a screw conveyor 73, similar to 1, by a sprocket chain 7 5 which leads from the sprocket 76 on the first lower cleaning roll to a sprocket 77 on the upper distributing conveyor. The shaft 55 of the lower feed screw 53 is driven by a sprocket wheel 78 thereon and a sprocket chain79 that extends over a sprocket Wheel 80 on the main driving shaft 11, and it also extends about the sprocket wheel 81 on the shaft 55 of the rear screw conveyor 54, as seen in Fig- 3. On the other end of the feed screw 54, as seen in Fig. 3, there is a sprocket wheel 82 secured, which drives a sprocket chain 83 that passes over the sprocket wheel 84: on the lower elevator shaft 60 and the sprocket wheel 85 on the lower elevator shaft 70 and drives those two shafts.

A funnel 86 is secured under the screw casing 62 and 72 and the discharge point of the elevator to which a bag may be attached when it is desired to remove the bran or cleaning material from the hoppers. By withdrawing the slide the bran will be elevated from the hopper and discharged into of the machine needs to be removed, it is usually taken out of that part of the machine and put into the hopper under the branning part of the machine, so that after a long use of the cleaning material in the cleaning part of the machine, it can be used for a long time in the other part of the machine. In this manner the tin plates are very thoroughly cleaned, and there is a great saving in cleaning material.

The invention claimed is:

1. A tin plate cleaning machine including a branning compartment and a cleaning campartment to which the tin plates are fed directly from the branning compartment. means for preventing the bran from passing from the branning compartment to the cleaning compartment, and separate means for supplying cleaning material repeatedly to the branning and cleaning compartments, substantially as set forth, whereby the cleaning material in said two compartments will be kept separate.

2. A tin plate cleaning machine including a branning compartment and a cleaning compartment immediately succeeding the led kept, separate.

3, A tin plate cleanmg machine including branning. compartment, rolls in said compartments, means for driving the same. so that the tin plates vwill be fed directly from the branning compartmentto the cleaning compartment, and separate meansfor supplying cleaning material repeatedly to the branning and cleaning compartments, substantially as set forth, whereby the cleaning material in said two compartments Will be a branning compartment and a cleaning compartment to which the tin plates are fed directly -from the branning compartment, means for preventing the bran from passing from the branning compartment to the cleaningcompartment, a separate means for feeding the'cleaning material from eachnhopper to its corresponding compartments, whereby the cleaning material in sa1d two compartments will be kept separate.

e, A tin plate cleaning machine having a set of branning rolls, aset of cleaning-rolls adjacent the branning rolls in said machine in position to receive the tin plates directly from the branning rolls, means between the branning rolls and cleaning rolls for pre-.-

venting the' cleaning material in the bran ning rolls from reaching the cleaning rolls, a separate hopper under each series of rolls in position to receive the cleaning material only from its corresponding set of rolls, and

I separate means for feedingthe cleaning-material' from, eachhopper to its corresponding set of rolls, whereby the cleaning material in said two sets ofrolls Wlll be kept sepa- 1 rate.

A tin plate cleaning machine having a set of branning rolls, a set of cleaning rolls adjacent the branning rolls 1n said machine in position to receive the tin plates directly from the b'ranning rolls, means between the branning rolls and cleaning rolls for preventing the cleaning material in the bran- .ning rolls from reaching the cleaning rolls,

a separate hopperunder each series of rolls in position toreceive the cleaning material only from its corresponding set of rolls, and elevator associated with each hopper for] elevating the cleaning material therein, and

a distributor associated with each set of rolls "for receiving the cleaning material from its corresponding "elevator and. supplying the same to its corresponding set of rolls,.\vhereby the cleaning material in said two sets of rolls will, be kept separate.

6'. A; tin plate cleaning machine having a set of branning rollsg a set of cleaningrolls adjacent the branning rolls in said 11121 rolls in position to receive the cleaning may terlal only from its corresponding set ofv '4'. A tinplate cleaning machine having a number of rolls arranged in, successive pairs for branning and feeding the tin plates passlng between, the. bites of all pairs of. rolls be-- inginhorizontal alignment with each other,

1 a sprocket wheel on each alternate lower roll and each alternate ripper roll at one side pair, sprocket wheels on the ends of the other rolls at the other side of the machine, so that oneach side of the machine there will be two horizontal rows of sprocketwheels, one sprocket wheel being located aboveand between eachv pair'of lowersprocket wheels, and the sprocket wheels-will, therefore,.be in staggered relation, a sprocket chain at each side of the machine running over the tops of the series of lower sprockets and under and engaging the series of upper sprockets, and means. for driving the sprocket chains at the different sides of the machine at different speeds. i

S. A tin plate cleaning machine having a number of rolls arranged in successive pairs for branning and feeding the tin platespass ing between, the bites of all pairs of rolls being in horizontal alignment with each other, asprocket wheel on each alternate lower roll and each alternate upper roll at each side of the machine and on only one roll of each pair, so that on each side of the machine there will be two horizontal rows ofsprocket wheels, one sprocket wheel being located above and between each pair of lower sprocket wheels and the sprocket wheels, therefore, being in staggered rela tion, a sprocket chain at each side oft-he machine running over the tops of the series of lower sprockets and under and engaging,

with it a series of upper sprockets, a main driving shaft extending transversely of the machine, sprocket transmission from said shaft to one of saidsprooket wheels forcausing relatively rapid travel of one'roll of each pair of rolls, another-sprocket wheel on.

said driving shaft, a larger sprocket wheel in position to drive the other sprocket chain, a sprocket chain from the last mentioned lOO sprocket wheel on said shaft to said larger chain so that the other rolls'of each pair will be driven at a slower speed.

9. A tin plate cleaningmachine having a number of rolls arranged in successive pairs for branning and feeding the tin plates passing between, the bites of all pairs of rolls being in horizontal alignment with each other, a sprocket wheel on each. alternate lower roll and each alternate upper roll at one side of the machine and on only one roll of each pair, sprocket wheels on the ends of the other rolls at the other side of the machine, so that on each side of the machine there will be two horizontal rows of sprocket wheels, one sprocket wheel being located above and between each pair of lower sprocket wheels and the sprocket wheels, therefore, being in staggered relation, a sprocket chain at each side of the machine running over the tops of the series of lower sprockets and under and engaging with it a series of upper sprockets, a main driving shaft extending through the machine, means driven thereby for driving said twosprocket chains at different speeds, a hopper under the front rolls of the machine, a hopper under the rear rolls of the machine, a screw conveyor in the lower end of each of said hoppers, sprockets on said conveyors, a sprocket on the driving shaft, a sprocket chain from the driving shaft to said last two mentioned sprockets for driving said two screw conveyors, an elevator beside the front part of the machine for elevating the cleaning material from the front hopper, an elevator beside the rear part of the machine for elevating the cleaning material from the rear hopper, sprocket wheels and chains for driving said elevators from one of said screw conveyors, a distributor extending transversely over the front part of the machine, another distributor over the rear part of the machine for distributing the cleaning material to the front and rear rolls independent ly, and means connected respectively with a front and rear roll for driving said distributors.

10. A tin plate cleaning machine including a branning compartment and a cleanin compartment to which the tin plates are fe directly from the branning compartment, and means for supplying cleaning material to the cleaning compartment independently of the branning compartment.

11. A tin plate cleaning machine including a branning compartment and a cleaning compartment, rolls in the cleaning compartment to which the tin plates are fed directly from the branning compartment, and means for supplying cleaning material to the rolls in the cleaning compartment independently of the branning compartment.

12. A tin plate cleaning machine including a branning compartment and a cleaning compartment, rolls in the cleaning compartment to which the tin plates are fed directly from the branning compartment, means for preventing cleaning material from passing from the branning compartment to the cleaning compartment, a hopper to receive the cleaning material from only the cleaning compartment, and a conveyor for elevating said cleaning material from said hopper and discharging the same upon" the rolls in the cleaning compartment.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed my signature.

WlLLIAM N. DURBIN. 

